


Between Two Worlds

by Urby



Series: Melodies of Life [10]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Deeprealms, Depression, F/M, Invisible Kingdom | Revelation Route, Post-Game(s), Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-19 02:36:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17593022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urby/pseuds/Urby
Summary: Trying to convince herself to keep living is slow going.





	Between Two Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the gentle dragon in my life for helping me through a similar time.

The night felt long, because Corrin was warm and present and alive next to her, and it forced Azura to think about how she was all of those things as well.

His breathing seemed shallow for someone that was asleep, but he didn't react when she shifted around, which she did often. Why did being alive and warm mean that she needed to sweat...her own biology infuriated her.

Without his voice and his actions to distract her, her mind was turbulent with half-formed jabs at herself. When she focused on clearing her mind, she couldn't keep herself from getting annoyed by the ringing in her ears, and if she tried ignoring that, then the thoughts would come back.

Corrin moaned in his sleep, digging into the sheets. Perhaps her endless shifting got noticed after all. She took a deep breath and stilled.

_I wish I could just be normal again_ , Azura thought, staring into the darkness. _I've decided not to die. I've decided to stay with you. So why am I still like this?_

* * *

The morning was sunny enough that there was light in the room even before the curtains were drawn. Azura blinked a bit. Her eyelids didn't feel heavy, so she must have fallen asleep at one point. She felt...cozy. The light was soft and the sheets were soft and Corrin was very cute right next to her, and she was happy to discover that she liked being next to him like this. She wondered if the sunlight also meant it was a warm day, but made no moves to find out - now that her body could bear being so close to someone else, she didn't want to change it.

Corrin's eyes were open and his gaze soft. The two of them shared a wordless moment, just taking each other in, before he stretched and sat up. "Come on now," he said, his voice light and gentle. He rolled off the bed and left the bed undone behind him. "Time to get up! Today will be a good day."

Her eyes followed him as he got up, her body feeling heavier and emptier with each passing second. Her mind had been blissfully vacant when he was with her in the brief minutes of emerging daylight, but now the void in her thoughts felt cold…and she was afraid of what she might think in order to fill the space.

"You can't stay in bed forever, Azura," he said, his voice low.

_He is trying to make me feel better,_ she told herself.

_But I don't want to get up! It's warm in this bed and when he's here with me we're both comfortable!_ a petulant part of her countered.

"It's cold today," she said instead.

Corrin paused, as if trying to come up with some elegant and inspiring response. Azura took his hesitation as an opportunity to hide under the blanket again.

"Azura! Let's get up and do something fun! Or even just something you like."

She wanted to groan. How could he understand how tough it was thinking of something that fit that criteria that wouldn't impose on him in some way? She knew he would say that he didn't mind being 'imposed' on, of course. That just made it worse.

Her body interrupted by announcing, loudly, that she needed nourishment. He used this as an excuse to bring her the best food in the village, which happened to be a rich meat stew that day. She tried to enjoy it as much as he did, especially since it had been a long time since they'd enjoyed a nice meal together.

A hand reached for hers while she was making her way through a chunk of beef, almost spooking her. Of course, it was Corrin, and she knew he wasn't trying to scare her.

"I'm so glad I found you," he said, his voice soft.

Azura could not echo back that statement with certainty, so she chose to smile at him instead.

He refused to let her go back to bed afterwards, insisting that they have a walk around. The local village was a cozy place, one that would have made a good hiding spot during the war if they hadn't already had the Astral Plane. The air was filled with the scent of cooking food and freshly rained-on greenery, which should have been revitalizing, but...Azura didn't especially feel as such. She figured it was just her mood and tried to be in the moment with Corrin.

"There are birds in the tree!" he pointed out.

"Oh..." she looked up to where he was pointing and found them after they started hopping about. They were exceedingly orbular and adorable.

And looking at them made her...queasy. They moved around too much for her to focus on them. She dropped her gaze, scolding herself for not being able to enjoy something as simple as birdwatching with someone she loved.

"Are you feeling alright, Azura?"

"I would like to keep walking," she said.

There was a path through a tamer part of the forest, one that meandered up and down hills. It seemed to be a trail used more for exercise than actually going somewhere. Her legs and lungs appreciated the use, but her stomach...

Azura finally resigned herself to what was going to happen when she felt entirely too aware of her throat. She sought out a tree and put an arm against it.

"Azura?"

"Corrin, please," she said, holding a hand out to block him. "I need a moment."

He gave her that moment, hovering nervously beside her as she threw up everything she ate.

Azura was sick a few more times on the way back, to the point that Corrin insisted that he put her on his back and carry her back to their room.

"Do you think you want to try eating something else, or would you like a bath first?" he asked once they had reached the house they were staying in.

"I'm _exhausted_ ," she said, and she hated the way her breath and the words tasted in her mouth.

"I really think you'll feel better if you do one of those two things I mentioned before you rest," he said, making no move to put her down.

Breathing meant forcing air out of her lungs every exhale, and that was more work than she wanted to do at the moment. Talking was another layer of exertion on top of that, but... "I'd like a bath," she said.

"Alright!" he said, remarkably chipper for someone who had weathered a very sick person's bad day. "Do you need help getting out of your clothes?"

Azura wondered why he knew to offer that - perhaps he had experience with being this sick, or caring for someone this sick? She nodded.

Corrin knelt by the wooden washtub and let her slump off his back. He spent a long moment watching water fill the tub, his features still with worry.

"I'm sorry if I see you, your..." he couldn't finish the sentence, putting a hand on his face.

"Today is a day where I have neither pride nor modesty," she said softly. With heavy hands, she began loosening the bindings holding her dress together. "Don't worry about it."

It took a few minutes to get her undressed and settled. She was pleasantly surprised that the water was warm, so she was comfortable even if she had to curl up to fit in the bathtub. Now, she just needed to...begin the laborious task of washing her hair and dealing with the weight it had when it was wet. She stared at her toes under the water, unable to gather herself to move.

"Do you need it to be warmer? Colder?" Corrin asked.

Azura shook her head.

He gathered a few objects: a ladle, a comb, a bar of soap. Then, seating himself behind her, he worked on clearing the ends of her hair of any tangles and mess that they'd accumulated that morning.

"You don't have to do this much for me," she said.

"I want to help," he said. "If you don't want help, let me know."

She could easily imagine herself refusing. She could almost _hear_ herself refusing.

Instead she let him wash her, allowed him to go from her hair to her back to her shoulders, and then lifted her arms for him when he touched them, waiting for permission. Each drop of water rolling off of her body felt like the string of a marionette puppet, draping against her skin one at at time.

Wait, why strings? Why a marionette puppet? She frowned. Was her sadness supposed to be pulling her around? That was appropriate, maybe, but why that image, she wondered.

"Watch out," she heard behind her, and she didn't realize that was a warning before a ladleful of warm water hit the back of her scalp. She blinked against suds and mouthed at strands of hair on her lips.

"Could I have water?" she asked, miming a glass.

Corrin laid the tools he was using within her reach while he went to get her something to drink. The water was in the glass was tepid and she swished it in her mouth, trying to clear it of the taste of bile. Of course, it only gave her a mouthful of that taste, with nowhere to get rid of it. She stared at the half-full glass, cheeks tight with something she didn't want to swallow.

"Oh..." he said after realizing what the issue was. He gingerly offered the ladle so that she could spit out.

"Today is a day where I have no grace, either," she muttered.

"Please don't say things like that."

She went quiet, doing what she could to clean herself while he helped her. Once she felt clean enough to make her way out of the tub, she set herself to drying off (there weren't nearly enough towels, and the ones that were there were a bit itchy, but she was in no position to argue for luxury.)

"Do you want to eat now?" Corrin asked, sitting next to her as she wrapped her hair up in one of the drier towels.

She knew she should try to get her energy back, but... "I want to lie down," she said. She rose to do so and collapsed on the bed, curling her knees to her chest. A few moments later, another flop announced him joining her. She felt her heart swell, barely comfortable, when he nestled closer but still giving her an arm's worth of space.

"I'll wake you up in an hour, okay?"

"That's fine," she said, closing her eyes.

* * *

Azura's belly made a few attempts at rousing her while she rested, but she remained resolute. Corrin said he wanted to wake her, so she had to use that time to rest and get better. Maybe. Besides, he looked like he needed rest, too.

It may or may not have been an hour, but eventually, he moved so that he could wrap her up in a hug. "Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, and wondered if it was true. "I love you," she said into his shoulder, and she didn't wonder about that.

"I love you too," he said, planting a gentle kiss into her hair.

Her mind was empty, barely active enough to twirl around the notion that Corrin was being very cute and affectionate. But it didn't take long for the heaviness to come back, for the residual sick to become her thoughts.

"I know I said I wanted to live as long as I was with you..." Azura began.

He squeezed her hand, but didn't say anything.

"It's awful, but I think part of me still wants to die."

He seemed to shrink or sag down. "Do you...do you know why?"

Her first instinct was to say, "No! Of course not!" but she was less and less certain that it was true. She sighed instead. "It's an old feeling. I thought I had quashed it with responsibilities -- I had quashed it. But now that they're not there..."

His expression grew weary, but no less patient. "What do you mean by old?"

She wondered if answering with silence would get him to back off that line of questioning. At the same time, she wanted to talk about the weight that she had been carrying around for so long...not because she thought it would help - airing out closets full of skeletons didn't get rid of their contents - but because she was tired of having to coop it all up. "When I was young, the people of Nohr hated me. Not just those vying for Garon's throne," she said. "Being a princess only protected me so much from those who wanted to hurt me."

"Hurt?" he cut in, too soft to be a real interruption.

"When my mother died to tell me the truth, the last person on my side died as well," Azura continued, trying to ignore how sad he had become. "If I hadn't been brought to Hoshido...I'm not sure how long I would have lasted in Nohr. If not because of others, then..."

Corrin considered his next words for a while. "You didn't have siblings in Nohr," he said finally. It was not much of a question.

Azura closed her eyes with a bitter chuckle. "I don't think even your siblings had siblings, then," she said. "They were bad days. Bloody days."

He sighed a drawn-out sigh and rolled onto his back, eyes staring ahead in thought. She allowed him his silence until it started to bother her.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Family," he said. "Families of blood and not."

She winced. He considered the silence for a moment, then put a hand on his face.

"I shouldn't think too hard about that."

"I..." Azura didn't know what to say, exactly. It was something that they'd moved on from...at least, she thought so. It was easy to grow thoughts that she should be gone so that it wouldn't be a problem.

"The past can be hard to move on from," he said. She waited for him to continue, but apparently it was a complete thought, because he didn't finish it with anything else.

"I wish I could be in the moment. But it doesn't take me long to remember all the reasons I shouldn't be here," she said.

After a while, she joined him in gazing at the ceiling.

"Why don't you think about the reasons why you should be here?" he offered gently.

"Like what?" she said before she realized how rude that was.

He didn't seem to mind. In fact, a little smile played on his face. "You should be here because you make the bed warm and I like that."

"Ah."

"And you make very tasty things to eat, and I would really like to eat another one of your desserts soon."

He seemed to be giving her a list of small, soft things, and it relieved her to discover that whatever was weighing her down didn't seem like it wanted to bother taking those ideas apart. "I'll make you a dessert," she said. "But you'll have to wait for it."

"I can do that."

Maybe she could, too.

* * *

It took a few days for Azura's stomach to adjust to eating meals again, especially ones as rich as the village made. She still felt her mood and spirit were far from recovering, though. It was a wonder that Corrin still kept trying to lift her up.

He left for an afternoon to give word to those outside the Deeprealm, once he was confident that she could be left alone. It was...odd, not wanting to do anything, including getting rid of herself. She didn't want to exist, but she didn't want to go through the work of making sure she stopped existing. She just looked out the window and waited.

When he returned, he had a covered pot and a basket full of goodies: soft dinner rolls, a tall bottle made of dark glass, some dried meat, and a little bag of strawberries. The pot had hot soup, apparently, because it steamed when he used a ladle to pour a bowl. Azura stared as he laid them out on the table, noting his smile. He was always careful to be in a good mood around her.

"These should be easier for you to keep down," he said, having a seat at the table. After a moment, she rose and joined him, stirring her soup. It was a simple vegetable broth with some barley in it...something thrown together quickly, no doubt. She wondered if he had been the one to make it. The soup was sweet with the taste of too many carrots.

"It's very good," she said.

His smile grew warmer at that. He waited until she had finished her soup to pick out a strawberry and put it near her bowl.

"They're very sweet today," he said. "They'll perk you up!"

Azura stared at it. It was bright and red and round and a perfect size.

After a moment, Corrin asked, "Do you not want dessert?"

"I don't deserve something nice like this," she said.

"Don't think like that."

"I'm not feeling good enough to have a treat."

"But a treat will make you feel good!"

She picked up the strawberry and carefully removed the leaves. The top was an appealing rose underneath them, promising a ripe, sweet berry to whoever ate it.

"I want you to have it," she said.

"They're for you!"

She pushed the strawberry towards him. "This one. It's yours."

He considered it, then put it in his mouth slowly. Azura watched his eyes close with pleasure as he savored the taste.

"Thank you," Corrin said, then placed the bag of strawberries near her bowl. "I already ate, though, so I couldn't possibly have another. You should try one though!"

She did, and the rich sweetness made her shiver.

* * *

It had been a while since Azura had stepped outside, so Corrin suggested they get some sunshine together. She was glad for the suggestion once they'd left the room: the air felt fresh on her skin, and while it didn't make her happy, it was a definite improvement.

He guided her, but she set the pace: one that could barely be considered walking, in her mind. Her mind spun obsessively over anything she did nowadays, and this was no exception. Slow. Sluggish. Plodding.

Azura looked up when he led them to stop. They were in front of the lake that Corrin had found her at, and he had his ankles in the water already.

It had been a few days since she had touched water with her body - an open body of water, at least, and not a little tub to wash in. She realized this after a moment of observing the surface of the lake, and it tinged her heart with melancholy. She stepped into the shallows.

"It's nice and cool," he offered.

"It is," she said automatically. She was paying more attention to herself, to how she felt, because it was...bizarre. She had hoped to feel better, somehow, that returning to water would restore her spirit. Instead, the lack of any improvement simply made her more aware of how awful she was and felt.

The next thing she noticed was that the touch of the water didn't inspire her to do anything. She didn't want to sing or dance. And what was she without song or dance...she stopped that train of thought before it could go any further. She took a step deeper, moving away from Corrin so that he let go of her hand. She dug her feet into the silt. Something pointy poked her sole and she drew back, barely upset.

Nothing.

Empty.

The implications weighed her down so much that she finally _did_ feel something, but it was a crushing sadness, of hopelessness in the face of such emptiness. Instead of coaxing out a song, the water only brought out sobs and tears.

"Azura!? Oh, no, please, I didn't mean to upset you," Corrin said, at her side in seconds. "I'm so sorry, please, we don't have to be here, shh..."

"It's not you," Azura said, curling into herself. "You're trying so hard, I know; you don't have to be sorry."

* * *

There were some ways that Azura could feel herself get better, though. When Corrin offered little physical displays of affection such as hugs and cuddles, she was grateful and willing to reciprocate. They were full of love and made her feel light. She only wished she could feel more...especially because she sensed that Corrin was hungry and wanting underneath his gentleness.

One night, when they were in bed and he was holding her, she decided to try giving in. He deserved it so much, and it was something she had been denying him, and herself, after all...and kissing aggressively was fun, anyway. Touching him was the most exciting thing she had done in a long time. The sound of him gasping her name made her feel...something, and nothing, at the same time. There was nothing but heat in her body and mind.

"Azura," he was saying, but the name barely meant anything to her at the moment. The air was cool on the parts of her chest that were exposed - they'd not been able to wrestle past all of the buttons on her nightshirt.

His lips drifted, going lower, and then there were teeth on her neck. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply every time he pressed his canines into her. It wasn't enough pressure to break her skin, but it was enough to make her drift, to forget about her body beyond that tiny contact...

And then it stopped. She blinked her eyes open to find Corrin inches away from her face. He drew back, his expression pensive. He went very still.

"I think..." he began, then shook his head. "I'm going to wash up."

"Aren't you going to keep going?"

His eyes were sad but kind. "I want you to be there when we do this," he said. He gave her hairline a kiss and rose to go to the washroom. She stared at the ceiling and listened to the sound of water running. He didn't seem to be drawing a bath or shower...

There was just enough light for her to make out phantoms on the ceiling. She rolled over and looked in the direction of the closet instead, so that she wouldn't be able to make out any shapes. After a few minutes, she heard soft steps back to her, and a weight settled on the bed. Corrin nestled by her with a sigh.

She flinched at something cold. "Eeep."

"Hm?" he said, drawing back.

"Your hair is wet," she said. "Tickles."

He chuckled and pushed himself up. Then, positioning himself over her, he started to shake his head slowly.

"Oh no! Now it's raining!"

After a few more seconds of shaking, he settled back down, molding her back to his chest.

It was...comfortable. She was inhabiting her body again, and the heat was down to the quiet kind that came about when she was just being with him. The flannel of her nightclothes was soft and so were the sheets against her face and her chest.

Movement made her twitch, and it took her a moment to realize that Corrin was buttoning her shirt back up.

"You don't have to --"

"I don't want you to get cold," he said. "Now you're cozy and safe."

Azura could have disagreed, but she decided not to.

* * *

Even if he was taking care of her, Corrin would sometimes absent himself for an hour or two, often going outside or letting her have space in the room. Azura felt reasonably confident that she wouldn't get inspired to hurt herself when he did so, but she spent a lot of time thinking about what he would do during those times. Perhaps he went out of the Deeprealm to spend time with people other than her? He was a very social creature, and such isolation must have been grating. And yet, how much could he accomplish within the short hours that he was gone?

It was after dinner one night when he told her he needed one of his moments. She let him go and waited. The room she was staying in was small and she had long since memorized everything in it, but she swept her eyes over it rhythmically. It helped pass the time better than napping.

Faint urges for water made her rise and make her way over to the kitchen. She was about to cross into it when she saw it was already occupied. Corrin was seated and bent over the table, arms over his head. Draconic ears pooled around his shoulders, oddly limp and still. In fact, his entire body barely moved, save for a tail that swung back and forth a few inches off the ground.

A loud, uneven sigh racked through his body. Clawed hands gripped at his elbows. Then he was still again for another moment.

"Why," his voice was muffled by the table, but she could clearly make out that word. "Why, why, why..."

He continued muttering for another minute or so, his voice getting sadder and weaker with every word. Azura wanted to melt into the floor.

The whipping of his tail got so strong that it knocked over a chair, and he flinched. She flinched as well, swallowing a gasp. There was a tense silence as she waited to see if he had noticed. Then, he pounded the table with a fist and sucked in a breath that sounded painful, and along with it, his draconic features pulled back into his body.

Any and all of her problems became insignificant and small after she'd seen that, and she fled on silent feet back to the room. She curled up on the bed, trying to ball herself up as much as she could.

Why wasn't she better already? She wasn't...sad, maybe, but she wasn't _happy_ , either, and that made no sense. Why wasn't she better when Corrin was doing so much for her? When Corrin was so...so miserable?

Realizing that he needed time _away from her_ and that she was causing this sadness in him broke something inside. Azura grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it so that her sobs weren't so loud, because all of the heavy thoughts and bad ideas were rising in her mind again.

Her fault.

She would be less trouble dead than alive.

She was hurting him.

The fear of him returning to the room and seeing her in such a state drove her to the washroom so that she could work on not looking like she was crying.

* * *

Corrin still cuddled with her, still remained upbeat. Azura was in awe of his patience and hoped that the little steps towards feeling better was enough progress.

They were in bed together again, and motion of his hand was steady and comforting in her hair. "I think I understand a little more now," he said after a long moment.

"You understand many things," she said in return, which was basically like saying nothing at all, but seemed an appropriate answer.

"A little more about you, specifically," he said. "About why you kept trying to keep your distance, about how cold you were sometimes."

Azura's breath slowed a bit, but she evened it out after she realized her reaction.

"You thought you were going to die so much that you didn't want to get attached to things," he said, keeping his hand against her brow. "In case it would make things harder. If you hesitated, you might do something wrong, or not at all. I remember you telling me as such."

"I did," she said. She didn't especially like thinking about this subject in any depth, but she didn't want to discourage him either.

"I didn't know, at the time, how much restraint you must have kept yourself under," he murmured. He brought his lips to her forehead briefly. "I hope you can ease up on yourself."

Azura let out her breath in a sigh. "You are right, and I hope so as well," she said.

"There were moments when your restraint slipped. And I'm glad for those moments. I hope you are too?"

She nodded. "Maybe at the time I had some regrets. But I'm glad that I did it, looking back."

Corrin smiled. Azura considered it a moment longer, then sighed.

"I think rather often about that sword I took for you."

His eyes widened immediately. "It doesn't hurt you still, does it?"

"No…but what if it had been fatal? I would have died before my time. Before what I was convinced was my last performance."

Corrin's expression sombered.

"But I didn't die," Azura said quickly. "And the battle of Anankos was not my last performance."

"You're here now, with me."

She closed her eyes.

"I am," Corrin began, swallowing audibly, "very glad that you wanted to keep spending time with me after that incident."

"And what unfolded after that incident?" Azura said, smiling gently.

"Yes! Yes…"

The warmth of his body and his blush lifted her spirits.

"There is another reason I tried to keep myself distant, though."

"Oh…"

She sighed again, opening her eyes slowly. "At first, I was concerned about myself, yes. That perhaps loving was an indulgence that would only distract me. But there was a point where I couldn't deny that I was in love with you, and you with me. At that point, I wasn't thinking about myself anymore. I was thinking more about you, and how being with me was holding you back."

Corrin didn't protest with words, but his expression spoke for him.

"I've always known you were destined for great things, Corrin. You were born as a person that could change so much in each of the kingdoms - Valla included, once I knew that your convictions were strong enough. And while I could see you were happy with me, I couldn't stay with you with a clear conscience."

"I…" he searched for her hand under the sheets and held it. "I think I know where you're going with this, and I'm going to tell you right now that I don't agree."

"I was going to die, Corrin," she said, her eyes falling to their joined hands.

"But you didn't," he cut in.

"I wanted to save you from some grief. I thought that if I stayed a one-time lover, it wouldn't keep you down as long when I died."

"But you're more than that," he said, louder and more forcefully than before. "And not just to me! If you died, there would be -- Ryoma, Takumi, Hinoka, Sakura, they would lose a sister!"

"And they'd gained a brother, one that should have grown up with them," Azura almost shrugged. Her fingers hurt a bit, but she didn't mention it. "I know you're upset, Corrin, but those were things I had thought were the right thing to do. I had decided on them not long after I took that sword for you."

"But…" Corrin realized he was squeezing her and relaxed his grip. "You liked it, didn't you? What we did that night. It meant something to you, didn't it?"

She looked into his eyes and pressed against his hand. For a moment she couldn't speak, but when she did, she was certain of what she was going to say. "I've been trying to forget about it because I thought it would help me disappear. But I want to remember it. It's a good memory. An experience I wouldn't mind having again."

"Then remember it. Hang on to it. I want to stay with you and make lots of memories with you," he said with conviction. "Mundane ones, loving ones, ones where we work hard. As long as we're together, we can help each other."

"I'm not much help to you right now..."

Corrin tucked his face into her neck and held her closer. "Please don't say that. You don't know that."

"I'm weighing you down," Azura said automatically.

"You're helping me by being around, Azura," he said. "You don't have to die to be important to me. You don't even have to do anything."

There were protests ready to be said, but she was too tired to say them. She closed her eyes and realized she didn't want to say them, either.

* * *

Sunlight was barely crawling through the window when Azura opened her eyes. She blinked in what little illumination she could gather and looked around. The room was as they had left it, which seemed like an important thing to note. Then, she focused her attention on Corrin, who had his eyes closed in sleep. His expression looked less than restful, though...

Moving delicately, she cupped her hand near his ear and rested her fingers in his hair. He seemed so cheerful and full of energy during the day, but now he seemed more drained than he had been before he had gone to sleep. She pondered if his expression was sad in any way and decided that no, it wasn't, it was just tired.

If he was tired, she would let him sleep, but she was alert and her stomach was beginning to itch with hunger. She rose as slowly as she could bear, keeping watch over him to make sure he didn't rouse. For better or worse, he didn't notice or react.

_Rest well,_ she thought as she ghosted towards the kitchen.

There was light enough that she could put together some hot water, and Azura was able to drink enough tea to quiet her stomach. While she drank, she heard movement from the bedroom, so she returned with the teapot, hoping to share a cup with him.

It turned out that Corrin had not woken up, but had curled up deeper into the sheets. The sight of it made her heart tighten painfully.

_He has been working so hard to take care of me,_ she realized. She put the teapot down quickly but gently and snuggled back into the covers, moving closer to him to share her warmth. He murmured non-words, then stilled. Azura watched him for a moment longer, then closed her eyes.

_I want to get better so he won't have to be so tired looking after me,_ she thought. He moved in his sleep, and she watched him to make sure he was alright. When he settled down, so did she. _...I will get better._

* * *

Azura woke before him, this time, and she played with the little fringe of hair that fell over his nose until he stirred, smiling at her. She rested her forehead against his, waiting for him to stop blinking at the proximity of their faces. Then, she slowly wagged her head back and forth, sighing affectionately as she did so. He smiled with his eyes when he realized what she was doing.

"I love you," he murmured, rubbing against her in return.

She gave him a faint smile, which she hoped he would interpret as her returning the sentiment. "Thank you," she said. "For taking care of me. I want to return the favor."

Corrin blinked, his features relaxing in surprise. "Return the favor...how?"

"I want to make you feel better, too. I know you aren't fully well yourself."

"Ah..." his teeth worried at his lip as he thought. He swallowed before speaking. "Please, don't feel like you need to give back now. I want you to be whole before you think of helping others. Even me."

She hummed, turning that thought around her head. She'd done well getting better, but trying to do too much would only hurt everyone involved. She felt ready for the next step, though...

"I'm ready to go back," Azura said. "I'm ready to get help from more than just you."

Corrin didn't react for a moment, but when he did, relief and love and joy radiated all over his being. He snuggled into her, holding her close to his heart. "Let's go back, then," he said. "Let's go back together."


End file.
